Forest tours where killer dumped victims criticized

SYDNEY: An “extreme terror tour” of the Australian forest where a notorious killer buried seven backpackers in the 1990s was Tuesday attacked as “disgusting” and insensitive to the families of victims.

Goulburn Ghost Tours is advertising a small number of nighttime visits to Belanglo State Forest, where Ivan Milat dumped the bodies of two Britons, three Germans and two Australians over 20 years ago.

Milat is serving consecutive life sentences for the murders of the young travelers, which terrified Australia in the early 1990s. Their remains were found in Belanglo, 120 kilometers (74 miles) southwest of Sydney.

“Come with us to Belanglo where Ivan Milat buried the bodies of his victims! Once you enter Belanglo State Forest you may never come out, ” the company said on its website

New South Wales Victims of Crime Assistance League chief executive Robyn Cotterell-Jones acknowledged the fascination with the macabre.

“The idea so soon after his crimes in the Belanglo, and more recent crimes as well, of having people tramping over the sites that are still very special is very concerning to the families,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.